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Oil, Energy Stocks Dive On Gaza Strip Cease-Fire News

Crude oil prices and energy stocks plunged Tuesday on news
that Israeli forces and Hamas militants will cease fire in the
Gaza Strip after nearly a week of turmoil. But the two sides have
yet to reach an agreement and conflicting reports abound.

West Texas intermediate crude oil, traded in the U.S., for
January delivery fell 2.71% to $86.86 a barrel. Brent crude oil,
traded overseas, dropped 1.82% to $109.67 a barrel.

In afternoon trade,United States Oil Fund (
USO
), the largest ETF tracking WTI crude, burned off 2.63% to 31.82
as it erased nearly all of its gains from Monday. It has been
trending lower steadily since March and has been trading below
its key 200-day moving average since May, which is very
bearish.

United States Brent Oil (
BNO
) lost 1.54% to 80.54. It dipped back below its 50-day average
after briefly breaking above it Monday. It's been trading in a
sideways range since August and looks trendless.

United States Gasoline (
UGA
) sank 1.72% to 56.71. It appears to have hit price resistance at
its 50-day moving average.

IShares S&P North American Natural Resources (
IGE
) skidded 0.89% to 37.23. It has a similar bearish chart as
XLE.

Trade Recommendations

Waverly Advisors recommends shorting oil, to profit from
falling prices, if it breaks below prior support on the daily
chart. This level sits at $84 a barrel for light-sweet crude
oil.

"We see potential downside on crude oil to the high 70.00
range, and no clear uptrends," Waverly wrote in a client
note.

"We could easily see crude mired in a large range (say, $80 to
$100 a barrel) for many years, and see little justification for
heavy long exposure."

Bill Strazzullo, chief market strategist at Bell Curve Trading
in New Jersey, recommends buying January crude oil futures at
$87.50 with a stop loss at $86.20 a barrel. He recommends closing
the position if it reaches $91.50 to $93 a barrel and shorting at
those levels.

Price support lies at $31 a share for USO. It would take a
break above 33 a share to change USO's trend from negative to
positive, says Zev Spiro, CEO of Orips Research in New York.

World Oil Demand

Global oil demand rose to a new record high of 89.8 million
barrels a day on average during the 12 months through October,
0.9% higher year over year, according to Yardeni Research, which
released a
"Global Oil Demand & Supply" report
Tuesday.

"Thankfully, it's not turning negative, which would indicate
that the global economy is falling into a recession," Ed Yardeni,
president of Yardeni Research, wrote in a daily client note.

Falling U.S. and European demand was offset by rising demand
in Japan. Emerging market demand rose to a record high of 52.3
million barrels a day. Record demand was seen in China, India,
OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) and most
countries in Latin America.

The International Energy Agency has cut its fourth-quarter
demand estimates to 90.1 million barrels per day, owing to
weakness in Europe and the impact of Superstorm Sandy.

World Production And Stockpiles

OPEC output dropped to the lowest level in a year in October
at 36.9 million barrels a day.

U.S. production climbed by 500,000 barrels a day to 6.4
million barrels a day. The U.S. could become the world's largest
oil producer by 2020, according to an International Energy Agency
release last week. The "World Energy Outlook" expects U.S. oil
production to surge 37% from 8.1 million barrels a day in 2011 to
11.1 million barrels a day in 2020.

The most recent reports from the U.S. Energy Information
Administration shows U.S. stockpiles of 376 million barrels (for
the week ended Nov. 9), up 11.6% from the year-ago period. Prices
on average have fallen 13% in the past 12 months. Meanwhile,
refineries are producing about the same amount of fuel as last
year.

The normalized world demand-to-supply ratio edged down to
0.996 during October. That's the lowest reading since September
2009, when internationally traded Brent crude oil traded at $68 a
barrel.

"But for the latest conflict in the Middle East, oil prices
would probably be heading lower now," Yardeni wrote.

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